My question is when to throw out brass? Do you keep reloading until you notice a defect in the brass and then throw it out, or do you reload it a certain number of times and then throw it out? The book that I got says to throw it away after having to trim the cases 5 times. Also, are all brass of the same caliber interchangeable? For instance when the reloading manual says that they used "Hornaday" brass for a specific bullet, primer, powder combination, is it acceptable to use Winchester or Remington brass? Is there a different in pressures with different manufactures brass? Thank you.

There is not a simple "yes" or "no" answer to your questions. The answer depends on your type of shooting or accurracy required. It also depends on the safety margins you like.

Mostly one would load brass about 10 times and then discard them. However, during the loading proses all brass would still be inspected on a continual basis and faulty ones discarded. I have lost count of how many times I have loaded the same brass. I simply throw out those that I notice defects on, usually a cracked neck on my 30-06 and a split above the belt on my magnum caliber.

Different brass can readily be used or mixed, but accurracy may suffer by half a MOA or so. If you are at the top end of loads this can be a bit risky. A direct answer, yes, different brass has different internal volume and can effect presure, but only marginally so.

If you are looking for pinpoint accuracy, replace your brass before they show signs of wear and do not mix different manufacturer brass.

right mixing brass is acceptable and some people separate them out by make, but i dont really care if some are fed some are win some are rem whatever.

how long can brass lasr, well its kinda one of those things where you never know, some cases work for 10 times others die after 3-4, but like 8shots says the best thing to do is monitor the cases very well before reloading them, i usually buy a bunch of brass for a given round say a 30-06 i would buy a lot of 500 and then just rotate them through so it would take a long time to reload each case 5 times

right mixing brass is acceptable and some people separate them out by make, but i dont really care if some are fed some are win some are rem whatever.

how long can brass lasr, well its kinda one of those things where you never know, some cases work for 10 times others die after 3-4, but like 8shots says the best thing to do is monitor the cases very well before reloading them, i usually buy a bunch of brass for a given round say a 30-06 i would buy a lot of 500 and then just rotate them through so it would take a long time to reload each case 5 times

I agree 100% but i do this with 100 cases.I have had them last 5 shots up to 20.If i see my brass looking ruff after around 15 shots i will load them one last time and store them for target shooting and starte over with new brass for my hunting loads.

Two warning signs that brass is coming to the end are case neck splitting and primer pockets getting loose. Different brass has different case capacities and as such can effect pressure, it pays to work your loads up in a certain make brass for consistency in load pressure. On average with moderate loads you should get 8-10 loads from average brass (win - rem - fed) and as many as 20-30 with quality brass like (norma - lapua - nosler) always check OAL every couple loads and trim when necessary.

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